Wraparound Services
Wraparound Services
When a family is experiencing homelessness, the pursuit of basic needs (food, shelter, safety) invariably takes priority over everything else. At Adopt-A-Family, the provision of stable housing is an essential step, but only the first step, in supporting our client families. With help from many dedicated funding partners, the agency has built the following programs to address clients’ continuing needs:
Mental Health Program
Sound mental health is critical for parents to maintain a stable home and steady employment and for their children to succeed in school. This on-site program provides free, low-barrier therapy for clients whose mental health challenges are an impediment to their daily functioning. Based out of the Lake Worth campus and staffed by a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, the Mental Health Program has reshaped the delivery of therapeutic services to housing-instable families and their children. Our client populations have disproportionately high rates of mental illness but are unlikely to pursue treatment, often leading them to cycle in and out of the homeless system. Adopt-A-Family has learned that the best way to ensure these clients get help is to provide readily accessible mental health therapy in-house, for free, within walking distance of their homes. Over the long term, we know that our adult clients will struggle to keep their jobs and maintain their housing unless they heal from past traumas and develop healthy coping skills.
Job Coach Program
Some resident clients are unemployed when they enter Adopt-A-Family supportive housing, and many are underemployed. This program is designed to help clients qualify for and obtain better jobs with higher pay, benefits, and opportunities for advancement, so they are eventually able to generate enough income to live independently. After administering Vocational Assessments, the Job Coach Manager works with adult clients on resume creation, skills development, goal-setting, applications, and interviewing. The pursuit of education/training is also a key component, and the Job Coach Manager helps clients explore and apply for degree and certificate programs that could lead to career change and growth.
Next Step Grant
This in-house, donor-funded program provides grants to motivated clients wishing to pursue educational or training opportunities. Awards of up to $1,500 each are available to applicants who have identified a vocational/educational path for success but lack the finances to pursue it. Over several years of Next Step Grant program operation, clients have completed training in information technology, home healthcare, nursing, accounting, phlebotomy, insurance, marketing, early childhood, security, medical coding & billing, and property management.